Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-12-04
NIAGARA TRAGEDIES.
Some Old Stories Retold
By an Eyewitness.
THREE HEARTRENDING SCENES
The Destruction of Charles Ad-
dingt0n and Eva DE Forrest
in 1858.

II am going to Niagara Falls" said
a middle-aged passenger on. Penn
sylvania railroad train from Philadel-
phia yesterday, "and if you read in the
papers in a day or so that some per-
son, known or unknown, has been
carried over the falls, you may be sure
that 1 have reached my destination.
No; it won't be me-not if can help
lit. But have never been to Niagara
yet that some one did not go over the
falls, either Intentionally or accident
ally, and nothing but positive and
important business engagement, such
as compels me to go there now, could
induce me to visit the spot which il
associated in my mind with three ter
rible tragedies. 1 was Mortified
spectator of two most heartrending
Niagara tragedies, and on my third
visit to the falls the other was enact
ed. l have been for six weeks trying
to avoid this fourth trip, for my recol-
lections of Niagara are sufficiently un-
pleasant without having a fourth one
to be perpetual shudder to me.
"My first visit to Niagara was in the
summer of 1858, and had not been
there more than an hour when I wit
messed the agonizing scene of a young
man and beautiful, fair-haired child
swept away by the swift current from
Goat Island and dashed over the falls.
The young man was Charles Adding
ton and the child was little Eva De
Forrest. The Addingtons and DE
Forests we're prominent Buffalo fam
lilies. Young Charles Addington was
engaged to be married to Ada De For
rest. The day that paid my first
visit to Niagara, Mrs. De Forrest, Ada
and her little sister Eva, and young
Addington, had come from Buffalo fof
a days outing at the falls. They pic
nicked on Goat Island, and little Eva
having strayed away from the group,
her mother sent young Addington to
find her and fetch her back.
He discovered her not far away,
standing on the shore, look
ing at the swift water. Thought
lessly stealing up behind her, he
grasped the child under the arms.
and, lifting her up, held her out over
the water. She threw up her arms
and slipped from his hands into the
river. Addington sprang in and caught
her before she had been carried into
the swift water. He succeeded, after
a desperate struggle, in getting back
near enough to the shore tothrow the
child up on the bank. She had not
sufficient strength to hold on until her
mother could grasp her and pull her
to safe place, and she fell back into
the current. Adding OH again seized
her, but he was too much exhausted
to make way against the swift water,
and the two were carried into the
rapids and disappeared together over
the falls. l was on Goat island and
saw the whole occurrence.
"In the summer of 1864 l again
visited Niagara Falls. 1 arrived
there at night, and early next morn
ing l walked over to Goat Island,
and. looking down the American
rapids, what should see but a man
clinging to an old tree-trunk that had
lodged at some time in the current
betw en- the small islands off Goat
Island and the American shore. Be-
fore could give the alarm the man
had been discovered by o hers, and
the news spread rapidly. Who the
man was or how he came to be in his
perilous situation no one ever knew.
but it was supposed that he had been
rowing across the river somewhere
above, the night before, and losing
control of his boat, had been swept
down into the rapids, and the boat
-triking the tree-trunk, he had by
some miracle gained foothold upon
| it.
GAS soon as possible after the dis
covery of the man was made word was
telegraphed to Buffalo, and q party OF
life savers came on a special train to
the falls to try and rescue him. Be-
fore 10 o'clock thousands of persons
were gathered at every available spot
where sight of the unfortunate man
could be obtained. The railroads ran
special trains, and people came in
conveyances of all kinds from the
surrounding country. No one seemed
at first to know how to go to work to
be of aid to the man, but he clung to
the tree, watching every move that
was made-how anxiously he watched
may be imagined. 1t was, of course,
impossible to make him hear
an, thing that might be shouted
to him, and there was no way to
give him any directions. finally a
life boat was attached to a cable and
let down the rapids from the bridge
toward him. Guide ropes were tied
to 1t, by which it was directed toward
the log by men on the shore of the
island. The plan was we'll calculated,
and the boat made directly for the
SPOT where tie man was hanging be-
tween life and death. The assembled
multitude began to feel that in few
minutes the poor man would be safely
drawn ashore. Suddenly the boat
was caught by swirl Of the rapids.
The cable parted like a weak kite
string. The boat rushed past the man
like a flash and Was carried over the
falls.
"This sad ending of the effort to
rescue the man showed the life-savers
that there was no hope for the man
in that plan. Several others were
suggested, and finally one was adopted
which it took until late in the after
noon to get in readiness. In all those
long hours of suspense | don't believe
one OF the spectators moved from
his tracks. Everything else about
Niagara Falls was forgotten except
the terrible scene of q fellow being
hanged on the verge of death, and pa
tiently awaiting the success or failure
OF the efforts that were being made
to rescue him. The plan adopted was
to fasten a strong cable securely tc
the American shore, attach a 'stanch
raft to it, carry tne i lTonG emu and o. 9st 'rt
h,lt,, Jo,yp with the raft to the tree